The Kraken

Brighton have been very impresssive in this game. Given City a lot of problems and have some very good spells. They knock it around nicely and their pressing game has made sure City have been pegged back at times. Good to watch. I think the first goal was fine, Haaland was just too strong. The penalty was very weak though.

I get the feeling that we’ve made an agreement with him that he won’t be played at full back. Nothing to support this, just an opinion. When at Arsenal and looking at loan moves he stated he really wanted to play in midfield. This is what the Athletic reported that Sam Allardyce said about him from him loan spell all West Brom: Despite being an admirer of Maitland-Niles’ qualities as a box-to-box midfielder, the West Brom manager admitted that: “If I were him, I’d play wherever the manager picked me — and I’d never turn it down because if you can play in a number of positions, then you are going to get more games than if you had one position and one position only.” Sounds like he just might have refused to play full back before.

So assuming KWP is out, what’s our options? - Flat 4, Perraud RB, Larios LB - Flat 4, Lyanco RB - Back 3, Perraud and Larios wing backs - Back 3, gamble on Elmo or Diallo at RWB - Something else? We don’t have the luxury of shifting JWP from CM.

Don’t think he can play as it’s Arsenal.

So assuming KWP is out, what’s our options? - Flat 4, Perraud RB, Larios LB - Flat 4, Lyanco RB - Back 3, Perraud and Larios wing backs - Back 3, gamble on Elmo or Diallo at RWB - something else? We don’t have the luxury of shifting JWP from CM.

I did think he was excellent when he came on. Kept the ball well in some difficult positions. I still think that, to keep it solid, a midfield 3 of Lavia (when back fit), JWP and Diallo is our best option. Without Lavia having Diallo there might mitigate the weakness of AMN’s defensive side of his game.

Think this one will have a runaway winner.

20 minutes to go and it’s everyone behind the ball, panic stations football.

The co-commentator just said ‘it’s been a cracking half of football’. Maybe he’s watching a different game to me.

Dopey booking from Perraud. Good save from Bazunu, offside anyway though.

Meet the new team, same as the old team. Shows how shit our lack of options are. Can only see a home win tonight, if we can get a point it’s a success.

It’s possible, but there’s also rumours that there’s multiple reasons for her departure, some that have been known about for longer than today (which her letter references). Supposedly the information she sent was market sensitive / OBR affecting. It also looks like the whips are going to be busy after the fracking bill, a number of Tory MPs saying publicly that they won’t follow the party line.

The Cortesedome with easyJet pricing was a huge opportunity we missed out on.

I have to either applaud or worry about the sanity of those who still go. Every game is reasonably easy to get either on iptv or a stream. I’ve watched almost every game on tv this season and, Chelsea apart, I can’t think of one I’d liked to have been there for. We used to be great to watch under Ralph, even often when we drew or lost. For an entertainment sport we just don’t do much of that these days.

Lighthouse is in full ‘Must. Defend. Ralph’ mode of late. Ralph just looks done with managing. The geezer is shot and looks like he wants to retire. He seems to have lost every sort of buzz about him that made him a great fit with us.

You might be right, though our reported attendances this season are high, well above 30k. In seasons past we got well under 30k for the opening games of the season. Matches against the top 6 are no real indication so I won’t include Chelsea or Man Utd, but we’ve had over 30k for Leeds and Everton this season. West Ham got 29 so a but if a downturn but a Sunday game. I will say, if this rubbish carries on I can definitely see that dropping off though.

The John Gorman / Jason Dodd caretaker period was abject. I think Dean Wilkins also lost 3 of 3 as caretaker. Full time managers, we’ve had plenty of pathetic starts to the Premier League that make this one look successful. Ad in the massive losing stretch from the back end of last season, though, and the aspect changes massively.

If so, I can only hope that most of the players have got Lowe-esque relegation clauses in their contracts.

I heard that in the TV just as half time hit, how was everyone supposed to get to Eastleigh? Or no solutions offered?

Have another go.

Yep, though I’m not sure how much of a compliment that is. He buzzed around well especially first half, very nice pass to play Elmo in for a shot on goal, worked hard defensively too. The sad thing is that I can say he showed he was one of our best players and also that he’s not quite good enough at PL level.

I dunno….seemed like a gamble worth taking. I think it emphasises just how meh our midfield and attacking options are, they’re all pretty much like for like in terms of impact, a full collection of beige (I’d omit Edozie from that tbf but he’s extremely raw). You could probably rightly argue for/against who came off, but I saw this more as getting some fresh legs on. There’s plenty to rightfully bash Ralph about, this isn’t one IMO.

Who for? Hes literally the only reasonable option we have at CM right now.

Vote for your Saints MOTM.

Probably would’ve taken a point pre game. But, my word, we are not good to watch.